Road to Brazil on fast-track
By Wendella Davidson
LINKS: Guyana Ambassador to Brazil, Mrs Cheryl Miles, Governor of the State of Roraima, Mr Neudo Campos, centre, and Minister Anthony Xavier, at the meeting. POINT: from left, Mr Xavier, Minister Geoffrey Da Silva, Captain Gerry Gouveia and Ambassador Cheryl Miles. A GUYANA team is back from the fast-growing Roraima state in Brazil excited about finally completing the long-planned road link between the two countries. The need to fast-track the road from Boa Vista to Lethem through a bridge across the border Takutu River was highlighted when top level delegations from the two countries met Thursday and Friday in Boa Vista. Governor of Roraima, Mr Neudo Campos, who visited Guyana in 1997, said at the opening of the talks Thursday that completing the road will be of great benefit to both sides. Private sector sources in the Guyana delegation yesterday said the Brazilians have agreed to work with the Guyana Government here on advancing plans for the bridge and the road. Transport and Hydraulics Minister, Mr Anthony Xavier, who led the Guyana team to the first institutional meeting between the two sides, has returned with plans for the bridge and financing options for the structure and sections of the road. Guyana and Brazil have been discussing the planned road since the early 1980s but completing the link has been stalled several times, largely because of financial constraints. Senior officials of the federal government of Brazil were at the meeting and the Chronicle understands some US$3M is in the federal budget to complete the bridge. The sides have agreed to together explore financing options, including from United States and other private investors, to immediately upgrade and maintain key sections of the road from Lethem to Linden. The Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model for the road is among the proposals to upgrade critical sections of the thoroughfare to laterite and to maintain these. Paving is also under consideration and the Roraima state and Guyana officials are to lobby the private sectors and the Brazil federal government to help meet the costs, the sources said. Xavier is to meet officials from Brazil in Guyana within a month on the plans, the Chronicle understands. The push for closer trade, cooperation and other ties between the two countries was advanced by former President Janet Jagan on a state visit to Brazil in 1998 when she met President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Governor Campos also flew from Boa Vista to Brasilia to meet President Jagan and he is expected to visit Guyana again in two months to follow through on the plans advanced last week. Guyana has committed to putting in place a key liaison person in Boa Vista with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism in Guyana and to ensure that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs works faster to establish a Guyana Consulate or Honorary Consul in Boa Vista. The private sector sources said the two delegations agreed to look at establishing a frontier mission between Guyana and the State of Roraima. Roraima's primary interest is in completing the bridge and road and easing problems in getting visas and work permits. The state has presented Guyana with a draft transportation agreement covering the movement of vehicles and road traffic and other matters. Guyanese businessmen want Roraima to remove a 10 per cent internal transit tax on goods coming here from Manaus through Boa Vista, according to the sources. The delegations had extensive discussions on reopening flights between Guyana and Brazil and have agreed to work together to develop tourism. Familiarisation trips have been proposed. Discussions are to continue on making Linden a port from where Brazil can ship and bring in goods, the Chronicle understands. The sources said Roraima wants to buy rice, sugar, seafoods, pharmaceuticals and rum from Guyana and is looking at markets here for its meat and confectionery. Others in the Guyana delegation were Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry, Mr Geoffrey Da Silva; Guyana's Ambassador to Brazil, Mrs Cheryl Miles; President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), Captain Gerry Gouveia; President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce, Mr Mohamed Khan; Mr Manniram Prashad, head of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other private sector representatives and the Regional Chairman and Regional Executive Officer from Region Nine. Also in the Roraima delegation was President of the Boa Vista Chamber of Commerce, Mr Pablo Carloza. Governor Campos, speaking at the opening ceremony, urged that the two countries move together in the future, examine their dreams and vision, believe in them and start immediately to create them. Minister Xavier recalled decisions taken in the past that are yet to be realised and the disappointment of the Guyana Government at the non-action. He, however, expressed joy that the time has come when action is being taken to have those dreams come to reality. And noting that the potential and work-productive relationship between Roraima and Guyana has had an unexplored and unprecedented mix, Xavier emphasised the need for members of both delegations to put not only their heads together, but their shoulders to the wheel to enable the dream of Brazilians and Guyanese to come true. He noted that the cooperation will open opportunities for trade and investment and all sorts of technical and practical links. But he warned against allowing barriers to inhibit the flow of people and urged that no more time must be wasted. "Let us take the decisions and commitments that have been made with the different working groups and put them into action," he said, while urging that the required institutional mechanisms be put in place. Minister Da Silva, at the ceremony, recalled the history of relations between the two countries. He said the plans for trade and investment were what made the meeting significant. In an invited comment, THAG President Gouveia yesterday noted that there has been movement between Guyana and Brazil. According to him, the peoples of Brazil, in particular the two northern states, Roraima and the Amapa, are anxious to do business with Guyana. He said they see the road from Lethem as vital for their development, as their access to the Caribbean and North American markets depends on construction of such an intercontinental link
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